Textile materials are among the most ubiquitous in society. They provide shelter and protection from the environment in the form of apparel, and comfort and decoration in the form of household textiles, such as sheets, upholstery, carpeting, drapery and wall covering, and they have a variety of industrial functions, such as tire reinforcement, tenting, filter media, conveyor belts, insulation, etc.
Textile materials are produced from fibers (finite lengths) and filaments (continuous lengths) by a variety of processes to form woven, knitted and nonwoven (felt-like) fabrics. In the case of woven and knitted fabrics, the fibers and filaments are formed into intermediate continuous-length structures known as yarns, which are interlaced by weaving or interlooped by knitting into planar-flexible sheetlike structures known as fabrics. Nonwoven fabrics are formed directly from fibers and filaments by chemically or physically bonding or interlocking fibers that have been arranged in a planar configuration.
Textile fibers are classified into two main categories, man-made and natural. Man-made fibers are formed by extrusion processes known as melt-dry, or wet spinning. The spinning or extrusion of filaments is normally followed by an operation known as drawing. In this step, the newly formed filaments are irreversibly extended and stabilized by setting or crystallization processes.
With the exception of silk, naturally occurring fibers have finite lengths and generally require several cleaning and purification steps prior to processing into yarns and fabrics. There are a number of finishing processes that textile fibers are subjected to after their formation wherein chemical compounds are applied onto the fibers. Examples include dyeing, waterproofing and the like. According to these types of processes, the textile substrate is typically placed into a closed-system apparatus known as a kier which is a large drum or barrel connected to recirculation pump. A finishing liquor, whether it be a dye or some other textile finish, is placed into the drum or barrel followed by insertion of the textile substrate. The apparatus is then closed and the recirculation pump activated. Since the system is closed and, hence, under pressure, as the finishing liquor is recirculated by the pump through the drum/barrel, the finishing liquor adheres itself to the fibers. Thus, in the event a dye is used as the finishing liquor, the kier enables the dye to adhere to the textile fibers, thereby imparting a desired color thereto.
Once a certain run of textile yarns or fabrics has been dyed, the interior of the barrel/drum (kier) typically needs to be cleaned prior to the next dyeing. The application of colored dye requires the complete removal of any residue of the old dye liquor, as well as any contaminants that may have been formed in the drum/barrel (kier) during the treating process. It is to this aspect of the textile treating process that the present invention is directed.
While cleaning compounds are presently being used to clean the interior walls and/or circulation lines of textile finishing apparatuses, due to the many nooks and crannies found in these types of systems where excess finishing liquors and contaminants can adhere to, coupled with the necessity that all remnants of a prior treating process be completely removed so as not to interfere with a subsequent finishing process, known cleaning compounds have proven to be somewhat ineffective due to their inability to reach into and clean all of these nooks and crannies.